Reference: Fasting
American
In all ages, and among all nations, fasting has been practiced in times of sorrow, and affliction, Jon 3:5. It may be regarded as a dictate of nature, which under these circumstances refuses nourishment, and suspends the cravings of hunger. In the Bible no example is mentioned of fasting, properly so-called, before Moses. His forty days' fast, like that of Elijah and of our Lord, was miraculous, De 9:9; 1Ki 19:8; Mt 4:2. The Jews often had recourse to this practice, when they had occasion to humble themselves before God, to confess their sins and deprecate his displeasure, Jg 20:26; 1Sa 7:6; 2Sa 12:16; Ne 9:1; 1Ki 19:8; Jer 36:9. Especially in times of public calamity, they appointed extraordinary fasts, and made even the children at the breast fast, Joe 2:16; Da 10:2-3. They began the observance of their fasts, at sunset, and remained without eating until the same hour the next day. The great day of expiation was probably the only annual and national fast day among them.
It does not appear by his own practice or by his commands, that our Lord instituted any particular fast. On one occasion, he intimated that his disciples would fast after his death, Lu 5:34-35. Accordingly, the life of the apostles and first believers was a life of self-denials, sufferings, and fasting, 2Co 5:7; 11:27. Our Savior recognized the custom, and the apostles practiced it as occasion required, Mt 6:16-18; Ac 13:3; 1Co 7:5.
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When I had gone up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, then I stayed in the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.
And all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up and came into the house of God, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah.
And in the twenty-fourth day of this month, the sons of Israel were gathered with fasting and with sackcloth, and with earth upon them.
And it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, they called a fast before Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no food for delight, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, gather the elders, gather the children and those who suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth out of his chamber, and the bride out of her room.
And the people of Nineveh believed God. And they called a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterwards hungry.
And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, read more. so that you do not appear to men to fast, but to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.
But He said to them, Can you make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.
Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they let them go.
for we walk by faith, not by sight;
I have been in hardship and toil; often in watchings; in hunger and thirst; often in fastings; in cold and nakedness;
Fausets
The word (tsum) never occurs in the Pentateuch. The Mosaic law, though directing minutely the foods to be eaten and to be shunned, never enjoins fasting. The false asceticism so common in the East was carefully avoided. On the yearly day of atonement, the 10th day of the 7th month, Israelites were directed to "afflict the soul" (Le 16:29-31; 23:27; Nu 30:13). This significant term implies that the essence of scriptural "fasting" lies in self humiliation and penitence, and that the precise mode of subduing the flesh to the spirit, and of expressing sorrow for sin, is left to the conscientious discretion of each person. In Ac 27:9 the yearly day of atonement is popularly designated "the fast."
But God, while not discountenancing outward acts of sorrow expressive of inward penitence, declares, "is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal the bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest thy naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?" (Isa 58:4-7.) Compare similar warnings against mistaking outward fasting as meritorious before God: Mal 3:14; Mt 6:16.
The only other periodical fasts in the Old Testament were those connected with the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar: the fast of the 4th month commemorated its capture (Jer 39:2; 52:6-7); that of the 5th month the burning of the temple and the chief houses (Jer 52:12-14); that of the 7th the murder of Gedaliah (Jer 41:1-3); that of the 10th the beginning of the siege (Zec 7:3-5; 8:19). Jer 52:4, "did ye at all fast unto ME, even to ME?" Nay, it was to gratify yourselves in hypocritical will worship. If it had been to Me, ye would have separated yourselves not merely from food but from your sins.
Once that the principle is acted on, "he that eateth eateth to the Lord, and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not" (Ro 14:6), and "meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse" (1Co 8:8), fasting and eating are put in their true place, as means not ends. There are now 28 yearly fasts in the Jewish calendar. Daniel's (Da 10:3) mode of fasting was, "I ate no pleasant bread," i.e. "I ate unleavened bread, even the bread of affliction" (De 16:3), "neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth." In Mt 9:14 "fast" is explained by "mourn" in Mt 9:15, so that fasting was but an outward expression of mourning (Ps 69:10), not meritorious, nor sanctifying in itself.
A mark of the apostasy is "commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving" (1Ti 4:3). The "neglecting (not sparing) of the body," while seeming to deny self, really tends "to the satisfying of (satiating to repletion) the flesh." Ordinances of "will worship" gratify the flesh (self) while seeming to mortify it; for "self crowned with thorns in the cloister is as selfish as self crowned with ivy in the revel" (Col 2:18-23). Instances of special fasts of individuals and of the people in the Old Testament, either in mourning and humiliation or in prayer, occur in Jg 20:26; 1Sa 1:7; 20:34; 31:13; 2Sa 1:12; 12:21; 3:35; 1Ki 21:9-12; Ezr 8:21-23; 10:6; Es 4:16; Ne 1:4.
National fasts are alluded to in 1Sa 7:6 (wherein the drawing of water and pouring it out before Jehovah expressed their confession of powerlessness and utter prostration: Ps 22:14; 58:7; 2Sa 14:14); 2Ch 20:3; Jer 36:6-10; Ne 9:1; Joe 1:14; 2:15. In New Testament times the strict Jews fasted twice a week (Lu 18:12), namely, on the second and fifth days. While Christ is with His people either in body or in spirit, fasting is unseasonable, for joy alone can be where He is; but when His presence is withdrawn, sorrow comes to the believer and fasting is one mode of expressing his sorrowing after the Lord. This is Christ's teaching, Mt 9:15. As to the texts quoted for fasting as a mean of spiritual power, the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus manuscripts omit Mt 17:21; they omit also "and fasting," Mr 9:29. They and Alexandrinus manuscript omit "fasting and," 1Co 7:5. Evidently the growing tendency to asceticism in post apostolic times accounts for these interpolations.
The apostles "prayed with fasting" in ordaining elders (Ac 13:3; 14:23). But this continuance of the existing Jewish usage never divinely ordered does not make it obligatory on us, except in so far as we severally, by experience, find it conducive to prayer. Moses', Elijah's, and Christ's (the great Antitype) 40 days' foodlessness was exceptional and miraculous. Forty is significant of punishment for sin, confession, or affliction. Christ, the true Israel, denied Himself for 40 days, as Israel indulged the flesh 40 years. They tempted God that time; He overcame the tempter all the 40 days (Ge 7:4,12; Nu 14:33; 32:13-14; Ps 95:10; De 25:3; 2Co 11:24; Eze 29:11; 4:6; Jon 3:4).
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For in seven more days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights. And I will destroy from off the face of the earth every living thing that I have made.
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
And it shall be a statute forever to you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, the native and the alien who is staying among you. For on that day an atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you, so that you may be clean from all your sins before Jehovah. read more. It shall be a sabbath of rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls, by a statute forever.
Also, on the tenth of this seventh month, this is a day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. And you shall afflict your souls and offer a fire offering to Jehovah.
And your sons shall feed in the wilderness forty years and bear your fornications, until your dead bodies have wasted in the wilderness.
Every vow and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may break it.
And Jehovah's anger was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years until all the generation which had done evil in the sight of Jehovah was destroyed. And behold, you are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to add still more to the fierce anger of Jehovah toward Israel.
You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction, for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, so that you may remember the day that you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
He may give him forty stripes, no more, lest he should exceed and beat him above these with many stripes, then your brother would be dishonored before your eyes.
And all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up and came into the house of God, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah.
And they were gathered to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured out before Jehovah, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.
And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek Jehovah, and called for a fast throughout all Judah.
Then I called a fast there at the river Ahava, so that we might humble ourselves before our God, in order to seek from Him a right way for us and for our little ones, and for all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask of the king troops and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is on all those who seek Him for good, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him. read more. So we fasted and prayed to our God for good. And He was pleased to hear us.
Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God and went into the room of Johanan the son of Eliashib. And he went there, and he ate no bread nor drank water. For he mourned because of the sin of those who had been exiled.
And it happened when I heard these words, I sat down and wept. And I mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven.
And in the twenty-fourth day of this month, the sons of Israel were gathered with fasting and with sackcloth, and with earth upon them.
Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and do not eat nor drink three days, night or day. My maidservants and I will also fast in the same way. And so I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish.
I am poured out like water, and all My bones are spread apart; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels.
Let them melt away like waters; they run off to them; he bends his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.
For forty years I was grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways;
Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness; you shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day pleasing to Jehovah? read more. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed ones go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, and that you should bring home the wandering poor? When will you see the naked and cover him; and you will not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Therefore you go, and read in the roll which you have written from my mouth, the Words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah's house on the fasting day. And also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities. It may be they will present their prayer before Jehovah, and will return, each one from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that Jehovah has spoken against this people. read more. And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book, the Words of Jehovah in Jehovah's house. And it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, they called a fast before Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. And Baruch read in the book, the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entrance to the New Gate of Jehovah's house, in the ears of all the people.
In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth of the month, the city was broken up.
And it happened in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, and the rulers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah. And there they ate bread together in Mizpah. Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah arose, and the ten men who were with him, and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. read more. Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with him, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.
And it happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it and built forts against it all around.
And in the fourth month, in the ninth of the month, the famine was very grievous in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden. (And the Chaldeans lay around the city all around.) And they went by the way of the plain.
And in the fifth month, in the tenth of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, chief of the executioners, who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. And he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house. And he burned with fire all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great ones. read more. And all the army of the Chaldeans with the chief of the executioners broke down all Jerusalem's walls all around.
And when you have fulfilled them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; a day for a year; a day for a year, I have set for you.
No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, and you shall not live in it forty years.
I ate no food for delight, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.
Set apart a fast; call a solemn gathering; gather the elders and all the people of the land into the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to the Lord,
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!
to speak to the priests who belong to the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, consecrating myself, as I have done these many years? And came the Word of Jehovah of Hosts to me, saying, read more. Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, even those seventy years, did you truly fast to Me, even to Me?
So says Jehovah of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.
You have said, It is vain to serve God; and, What profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked as mourners before Jehovah of Hosts?
And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.
Then the disciples of John came to Him saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast.
And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast.
However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.
And He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing except by prayer and fasting.
I fast twice on the Sabbath, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they let them go.
And having hand-picked elders for them in every church, and had prayed with fastings, they commended them to the Lord into whom they believed.
And much time having been used up, and the voyage already being dangerous, because the Fast was now already past, Paul warned them,
He who regards the day regards it to the Lord; and he not regarding the day, does not regard it to the Lord. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, does not eat to the Lord, and gives God thanks.
Do not deprive one another, unless it is with consent for a time, so that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer. And come together again so that Satan does not tempt you for your incontinence.
But food does not commend us to God. For neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.
Let no one defraud you, delighting in humility and worship of the angels, intruding into things which he has not seen, without a cause being vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the Head, from whom all the body, having been supplied through the joints and bands, and having been joined together, will grow with the growth of God. read more. If then you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to its ordinances: touch not, taste not, handle not; which things are all for corruption in the using, according to the commands and doctrines of men? These things indeed have a reputation of wisdom in self-imposed worship and humility, and unsparing severity of the body, but are not of any value for the satisfying of the flesh.
forbidding to marry, saying to abstain from foods which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
Hastings
FASTING
1. In the OT.
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And it shall be a statute forever to you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, the native and the alien who is staying among you.
And it shall be a statute forever to you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, the native and the alien who is staying among you. For on that day an atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you, so that you may be clean from all your sins before Jehovah. read more. It shall be a sabbath of rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls, by a statute forever.
It shall be a sabbath of rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls, by a statute forever.
Also, on the tenth of this seventh month, this is a day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. And you shall afflict your souls and offer a fire offering to Jehovah.
It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall humble your souls. In the ninth of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your sabbath.
It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall humble your souls. In the ninth of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your sabbath.
And you shall have a holy convocation on the tenth of this seventh month. And you shall afflict your souls. You shall not do any work.
And you shall have a holy convocation on the tenth of this seventh month. And you shall afflict your souls. You shall not do any work.
Every vow and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may break it.
And all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up and came into the house of God, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah.
And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh. And they fasted seven days.
And David prayed to God for the child. And David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the earth.
And David prayed to God for the child. And David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house rose up toward him, to raise him up from the earth. But he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
And it happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came. He and all his army came against Jerusalem and pitched against it, and built a siege-mound all around it.
And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month; it was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
Then I called a fast there at the river Ahava, so that we might humble ourselves before our God, in order to seek from Him a right way for us and for our little ones, and for all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask of the king troops and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is on all those who seek Him for good, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him. read more. So we fasted and prayed to our God for good. And He was pleased to hear us.
And it happened when I heard these words, I sat down and wept. And I mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven.
And it happened when I heard these words, I sat down and wept. And I mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven. And I said, I pray You, O Jehovah, the God of Heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments; read more. let Your ear now be open, and Your eyes open, so that You may hear the prayer of Your servant, which I pray before You now, day and night, for the sons of Israel Your servants, and confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very wickedly against You, and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgments which You commanded Your servant Moses. I pray You, remember the Word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, If you sin, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you turn to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though you were cast out to the outermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather you from there and will bring you to the place that I have chosen to set My name there. And these are Your servants and Your people whom You have redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. O Jehovah, I pray You, let now Your ear be open to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name. And I pray You, bless Your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. (For I was the king's cupbearer.)
And the priests, and the Levites, and the gatekeepers, and the singers, and some of the people, and the temple slaves, and all Israel, lived in their cities. And when the seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in their cities.
And in the twenty-fourth day of this month, the sons of Israel were gathered with fasting and with sackcloth, and with earth upon them.
And they stood up in their place, and read in the Book of the Law of Jehovah their God a fourth part of the day. And another fourth part they confessed and worshiped Jehovah their God.
And because of all this we are cutting a sure covenant, and write it, and our princes, Levites, and priests are sealing it.
But when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fastings; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.
They say, Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and crush all your laborers.
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day pleasing to Jehovah?
In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth of the month, the city was broken up.
And it happened in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, and the rulers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah. And there they ate bread together in Mizpah.
And it happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it and built forts against it all around.
And in the fourth month, in the ninth of the month, the famine was very grievous in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
And in the fifth month, in the tenth of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, chief of the executioners, who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem.
And I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek by prayer and holy desires, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.
For word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne. And he laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he cried out and said in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his great ones, saying, Do not let man or beast, herd or flock taste anything; do not let them feed, nor drink water.
to speak to the priests who belong to the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, consecrating myself, as I have done these many years? And came the Word of Jehovah of Hosts to me, saying, read more. Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, even those seventy years, did you truly fast to Me, even to Me?
So says Jehovah of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.
So says Jehovah of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.
And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, read more. so that you do not appear to men to fast, but to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.
Then the disciples of John came to Him saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast. read more. No one puts a piece of new cloth onto an old garment; for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; else the wineskins burst, and the wine runs out, and the wineskins perish. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved together.
However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.
The disciples of John and those of the Pharisees were fasting. And they came and said to Him, Why do John's disciples and those of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. read more. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days. And no one sews a patch of new cloth on an old garment, else it takes away from its fullness, the new from the old, and a worse tear occurs. No one puts new wine into old wineskins, else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine spills, and the wineskins will be ruined. The new wine must be put into new wineskins.
And He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing except by prayer and fasting.
And they said to Him, Why do John's disciples fast often and make prayers, and also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink? But He said to them, Can you make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? read more. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days. And He also spoke a parable to them: No one puts a piece of a new garment on an old garment. Otherwise, both the new will tear, and the old does not match the piece from the new. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskin will perish. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved together. Also no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, The old is better.
I fast twice on the Sabbath, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour. And at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing.
As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, So, then, separate Barnabas and Saul to Me for the work to which I have called them.
And having hand-picked elders for them in every church, and had prayed with fastings, they commended them to the Lord into whom they believed.
in stripes, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;
I have been in hardship and toil; often in watchings; in hunger and thirst; often in fastings; in cold and nakedness;
Watsons
FASTING has been practised in all ages, and among all nations, in times of mourning, sorrow, and affliction. We see no example of fasting, properly so called, before Moses. Since the time of Moses, examples of fasting have been very common among the Jews. Joshua and the elders of Israel remained prostrate before the ark from morning till evening, without eating, after Israel was defeated at Ai, Jos 7:6. The eleven tribes which fought against that of Benjamin, fell down on their faces before the ark, and so continued till evening without eating, Jg 20:26. David fasted while the first child he had by Bathsheba was sick, 2Sa 12:16. The Heathens sometimes fasted: the king of Nineveh, terrified by Jonah's preaching, ordered that not only men, but also beasts, should continue without eating or drinking; should be covered with sackcloth, and each after their manner should cry to the Lord, Jon 3:5-6. The Jews, in times of public calamity, appointed extraordinary fasts, and made even the children at the breast fast, Joe 2:16. Moses fasted forty days upon Mount Horeb, Ex 24:18. Elijah passed as many days without eating, 1Ki 19:8. Our Saviour fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, Mt 4:2. These fasts were miraculous, and out of the common rules of nature.
2. Beside the solemn fast of expiation instituted by divine authority, the Jews appointed certain days of humiliation, called the fasts of the congregation. The calamities for which these were enjoined, were a siege, pestilence, diseases, famine, &c. They were observed on the second and fifth days of the week: they began at sunset, and continued till midnight of the following day. On these days they wore sackcloth next the skin, and rent their clothes; they sprinkled ashes on their heads, and neither washed their hands, nor anointed their heads with oil. The synagogues were filled with suppliants, whose prayers were long and mournful, and their countenances dejected with all the marks of sorrow and repentance.
3. As to the fasts observed by Christians, it does not appear by his own practice, or by his commands to his disciples, that our Lord instituted any particular fast. But when the Pharisees reproached him, that his disciples did not fast so often as theirs, or as John the Baptist's, he replied, "Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bride-groom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days," Lu 5:34-35. Fasting is also recommended by our Saviour in his sermon on the mount; not as a stated, but as an occasional, duty of Christians, for the purpose of humbling their minds under the afflicting hand of God; and he requires that this duty be performed in sincerity, and not for the sake of ostentation, Mt 6:16.
4. Although Christians, says Dr. Neander, did not by any means retire from the business of life, yet they were accustomed to devote many separate days entirely to examining their own hearts, and pouring them out before God, while they dedicated their life anew to him with uninterrupted prayers, in order that they might again return to their ordinary occupations with a renovated spirit of zeal and seriousness, and with renewed powers of sanctification. These days of holy devotion, days of prayer and penitence, which individual Christians appointed for themselves, according to their individual necessities, were often a kind of fast-days. In order that their sensual feelings might less distract and impede the occupation of their heart with its holy contemplations, they were accustomed on these days to limit their corporeal wants more than usual, or to fast entirely. In the consideration of this, we must not overlook the peculiar nature of that hot climate in which Christianity was first promulgated. That which was spared by their abstinence on these days was applied to the support of the poorer brethren.
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And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mountain. And Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights.
And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of Jehovah until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust on their heads.
And all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up and came into the house of God, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah.
And David prayed to God for the child. And David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the earth.
And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, gather the elders, gather the children and those who suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth out of his chamber, and the bride out of her room.
And the people of Nineveh believed God. And they called a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne. And he laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterwards hungry.
And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.
But He said to them, Can you make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.